Method of forming an ornamental border on fabrics



(No Model.)

J. M. MERR'OW. v K METHOD OF PORMINGAN ORNAMENTAL BORDER 0N FABRICS. No. 402,468. v Patented Apr. 30', 1889 Z ue wlioz, 331 191141 a t (020,?)

N. PETERS rmwmo n m Wnhlnghn. v.0

UNITED STATES P TENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH M. MERROW, OF MERROW, CONNECTICUT.

METHOD OF FORMING AN ORNAMENTAL BORDER ON FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 402,468, dated April 30, 1889.

Original application filed $eptember 12, 1887, Serial No. 249,491.

To all whom, it may concern;

Be it known that I, JOSEPH M. MERROW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Merrow, inthe county of Tolland and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Crocheting or Overseaming Fabrics, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to and comprehends a new and improved methodof forming a border or finish for the edges of knit and other goods in similitude of or substitution for the ordinary hand-made scallops or shell-stitch finish, which result is accomplished by passing a thread repeatedly through the fabric or other material at or near a given point and drawing loops of the thread from opposite sides toward and beyond the edge of the material, interlooping or interlocking the loops, and when the requisite number of loops have thus been formed and connected to produce the desired cluster passing the thread through the fabric at a point more or less remote from that at which it was previously inserted, and by drawing a loop and interlooping or interlocking it with one or more of the preceding loops spreading the cluster of loops to cause the latter to assume and retain a shell-like or scalloped form, all as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective, showing the finish as applied to the edge of a fabric, the last cluster having been formed but not expanded. Figs. 2 and 3 are similarviews, the first showing the cluster expanded and the other the securing of the cluster preliminary to the formation of a new cluster.

Similar letters ofreference in the several figures indicate the same parts.

Any convenient means may be employed to assist in carrying the thread through the fabric and for grasping the thread to draw and interloop or interlock the loops beyond the edge, and in the drawings I have, for convenience of description, shown an eye-polnted needle, B, serving as a thread-carrier, and a latched crochet-hook, C, for drawing and interlooping the loops.

The material to which the finish or border isto be applied is herein designated as the Divided and this application filed January 12, 1888. Serial No.

(No model.)

fabric, by which is meant to be included any material the edge of which is either unfinished, bound, overseamed, crocheted, or otherwise re-enforced or ornamented preliminary to the application of my present invention, or two or more pieces of such fabric laid upon each other previous to crocheting in this improved manner.

In the drawings, A designates the fabric; a, the thread; a a (1/ &c., a series of finished clusters formed from the thread a, and b b b &c.,the several points at which the thread was passed through the fabric in the formation of the clusters.

As represented in Fig. 1, the clusters at a a have been finished and the cluster 01, has been completed, in so far as the drawing and interlooping or interlocking of the loops is concerned, one of the last loops 0 of said cluster being on the crochet-hook C and the needle withdrawn from the fabric.

In forming the cluster a the thread is carried back and forth through the fabric at the point 19 and the crochet-hook C is reciprocated and caused to grasp the thread a to draw loops therefrom, which are enchained or interlooped in any well-known manner along the edge of the fabric, and, as the latter is held stationary while these operations are performed, the several loops forming the cluster will be bunched or crowded more or less together, as indicated in Fig. 1. To shape and complete a cluster thus formed, the fabric or the needle is shifted and the thread is passed through the fabric at a point, 12 more or less remote from the point 19 where it was previously inserted, so that as the next loop is drawn and interlooped or interlocked with one or more of the preceding loops the loops of the cluster (4 will be drawn or spread apart.

The special variety of stitch which I have selected for illustrating a practical applicament, it is passed through the fabric several times at or about the same point, thus forming the cluster of stitches or loops instead of a single stitch, and this clustering of loops or stitches radiating from a common point or center, and the subsequent change in the point of insertion of the thread, so as to draw out and spread the stitches of the cluster, form the gist of my present improved method. When employing the particular variety of stitch shown for forming the clusters of loops and spreading the latter into a scalloped or shell form, the fabric is preferably supported in position while the needle and crochet-hook are reciprocated in transverse planes, the hook C being moved around the edge of the fabric and projected alternately above and below the latter to grasp the needle-thread, and after the requisite number of loops or stitches have been produced to form a cluster the fabric is fed or advanced while the needle is withdrawn, so that the cluster will be opened out. Under such conditions the sequence of operations performed would be substantially as follows: Starting with the T parts in the position shown in Fig. 1, with the needle B elevated and the thread a, extending from theneedle through the two previously-formed loops around the crochet-hook back through the loops to the point If, where it enters the fabric, the desired number of loops having been formed, the fabric is advanced or fed until the point If stands opposite the neodle, when the feed is arrested and the needle depressed, carrying the thread through the fabric, and the hook carrying the loop is advanced beneath the fabric to engage the thread as indicated in Fig. 2. As the needle is withdrawn the crochet-hook is carried around the edge and advanced above the fabric to grasp the thread and draw a loop through the two loops on the hook, said two loops having been carried back of the latch, (see Fig. 2,) so that they will be shed off as the crochet-hook is withdrawn. It will be observed that in this operation the spreading or opening out of the stitches composing the cluster a is effected by the movement or feeding of the fabric while the connecting-loop or that uniting the one cluster to the next succeeding cluster or to the fabric and engaged by the hook is projected from the upper side of the fabric, or that face of the latter through which the thread is passed. in forming the stitches.

The effect of feeding the fabric or trans- .ferring the thread from the point I) to b at this stage of the operation is to cause the third loop (the one projected from the upper side of the fabric and passing through the two preceding loops drawn from opposite sides of the fabric) to form the connection between the clusters, one portion or branch of said loop passing to the point 19 as part of the cluster aflwhile the other portion or branch passes to the point I) as part of the next stitch, which spreads and retains the cluster a in position.

A variety of effects may be produced by varying the number of loops in the clusters or the distance between the clusters, or the distances from the edge of the fabric.

It is to be observed that in my present invention the thread is carried through and held alternately on opposite sides of the fabric in position to be engaged by the hook or other loop-forming device,whereby the drawing of the loops can be regulated and at the same time the defects and difiiculties incident to the use of a crochet-hook in the man ner heretofore practiced in crocheting are overcome.

The various operations necessaryto be performed in practicing my invention may be accomplished by hand by the aid of various implements-such as those shown hereinor they may be performed entirely by machinerysuch, for example, as the machine described in my application filed September 12, 1887, Serial No. 249,491, of which this application is a division.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. Theimprovement in the art of crocheting or overseaming, which consists in forming along the edge of the fabric a series of connected clusters orloops by passing the thread through the fabric from one side and grasping the thread alternately 011 opposite sides of the fabric, to form and draw loops beyond the edge of said fabric, and interlocking the loops thus formed by drawing one loop through two preceding loops projected from the opposite sides of the fabric, repeating the operation a number of times at one point to form a cluster of loops, and subsequently passing the thread through the fabric at another point, drawing loops from opposite sides, and interlocking them, substantially as described.

2. The mode herein described of producing an ornamental border upon fabrics, said mode consisting in forming a group of stitches while the fabric is stationary by carrying the thread through the fabric, drawing a loop from one side of and beyond the edge of the fabric, then from the other side in like manner, and interlacing said loops at their outer ends, repeating said operation until a given number of loops are formed, then spreading the group to assume a shell-like form by feeding the fabric and repeating the loop-form ing operation.

3. The mode herein described of producing an ornamental border or finish upon fabrics, the same consisting in forming a group or cluster of stitches at a given point by passing the thread repeatedly through the fabric and grasping it on opposite sides of the fabric, forming loops extending from said point of insertion of the thread to or beyond the edge of the fabric, connecting or interlooping the outer ends of said loops to form a continuous margin for the group, and subsequently passing the thread through the fabric at another point, drawing loops therefrom and connecting or interlooping said loops to the loops of the preceding group or cluster to spread and retain the latter.

4. The herein-described improvement in the art of producing a border upon fabrics, the same consisting in passing the thread repeatedly through the fabric at or near the same place and from one side, grasping the thread alternately on opposite sides of the fabric to form and draw the loops beyond the edge of the latter, and interlooping or interlocking the loops so formed by drawing a loop from the top through the tWo preceding loops, the one from below and the other from on top, repeating this operation until the requisite number of stitches have been formed, and then carrying the thread through the fabric at a remote point, While the top loop is held preparatory to the formation of the next latter, enchaining or interlooping said thread beyond the edge of the fabric, repeating said operations several times at one point, and subsequently repeating the operation one or more times at a point suitably distant, substantially as described.

JOSEPH M. MERROWV.

\Vitnesses:

FRANK H. ALLEN, JOHN II. STANDISH. 

